For some time now, XJ220 owners have had to tread carefully (see what I did there?) when it came time to actually using the XJ220’s twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6, as appropriately sized tires are no longer in production.

Now, however, following a “coming together of minds” between Bridgestone and Don Law, the tire maker will coordinate a new compound for the uber-kitty, bringing the car’s original chief development engineer and test driver along for the ride. A pre-production XJ220 model will provide the test bed.

“It’s very important to keep such iconic vehicles running today and supporting people like Don Law and his team of expert technicians,” said Christophe de Valroger, Vice President Consumer OE at Bridgestone Trope. “ Technology has moved on significantly in the last 25 years and we believe we will be able to produce a tire that will keep the smile on the face of the enthusiast drivers of the XJ220.”

The plan is to get the tires finished in time for the model’s twenty-fifth anniversary next year.

Any mention of the Jaguar XJ220 will illicit responses that’ll cover the full spectrum of human emotions. Built in 1992 as a science project of sorts, the XJ220 became one of the first cars to really live up to its supercar label. Sure, the McLaren F1 was and continues to be regarded as the godfather of the modern-day supercar, but before the F1 burst into the scene, it was the XJ220 that held the title of fastest car in the world. You would think that such a distinction has given the Jag “iconic” status within the industry, and for the most part it has, but as we find out in the latest episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage”, the XJ220’s history isn’t as straightforward and is bit more complicated than any other supercar built in its era.

One such example of the XJ220 paid Leno a visit with its owner, Philip Sarofin. Together, the two discuss the rather eventful history of the XJ220 dating back to its early years in development all the way to its modern-day status as one of the most misunderstood supercars of all time. Sarofin’s XJ220 even has quite the history of its own, as the owner only acquired the supercar in July 2015 after the previous owner kept it on the 37th floor of his office building in Tokyo for the past 12 years without even driving it.

For the most part, the XJ220 doesn’t have the lasting legacy of the F1. Leno and Sarofin even described it as an “oddity”, a word nobody would ever use to describe the F1. So the question is: why doesn’t the XJ220 occupy the same type of reverence as the F1? Leno and Sarofin spent the majority of the episode discussing that and without spoiling anything, the two tackle a number of issues and controversies that plagued the XJ220.

It’s an enlightening episode on one of the world’s most misunderstood supercars and definitely worthy of the next 12 minutes of your time.

If Skyfall went back to a simpler time to find its hero car, an Aston Martin DB5 identical to the one from 1964’s Goldfinger, then the exact opposite is true for the upcoming James Bond flick, Spectre. Both the Aston Martin DB10, driven by James Bond, and Jaguar C-X75, driven by villain Mr. Hinx, have never been and never will be available to the public. Spectre’s chase scene through the streets of Rome will likely be the only time we see the pair driven in anger (and probably destroyed), and this clip provides an awesome behind-the-scenes look at the action.

If you need a refresher, the DB10 was built specifically for Spectre, and even though it’s a one-off, it gives us a pretty good hint at what the fourth-coming DB9 replacement will probably look like. The C-X75, meanwhile, was Jaguar’s hypercar that never quite made it to production. That’s a shame, because with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine generating power for four electric motors (one at each wheel) it would have been a fascinating car. Still, watching it chase Bond down through Rome should be a thrill. Spectre hits theaters in November 2015.

When talking about Jaguar, sports cars and motorsports success are the first two things that come to mind. The Brits became highly competitive on the track in the 1940s and went on to win seven 24 Hours of Le Mans races between 1951 and 1990. From the XK-120C, C-Type, and D-Type of the 1950s to the XJR racers of the late 1980s, Jaguar showed the world it has what it takes to build fast, innovative, and reliable race cars. But despite having things to brag about on the race track, Jaguar never had a proper supercar until 1993. That’s when the JX220 was born.

Developed in cooperation with the brand’s long-time partner Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the XJ220 was Jaguar’s only attempt at building a production supercar. Produced between 1992 and 1994 in only 275 units, the XJ220 was praised for its throttle response and precise handling, but criticized for its subpar interior and subdued presence among other supercars. The £470,000 sticker and the fact that the car received a turbo V-6 engine instead of the V-12 Jaguar initially promised didn’t help either. However, the fact that the 542-horsepower engine was able to provide 0-to-60 mph sprints of only 3.8 seconds and top speeds of 213 mph was enough to earn it a place in the "Supercars Hall of Fame."

Check out Drive’s latest video for the history the XJ220, and the story of a father and son who are responsible for Jaguar’s only supercar to date.

One of the most unique concept cars of the past decade came from a company that wasn’t doing particularly well at that time. Back then, Jaguar wasn’t as awesome as it is now, but in 2004, design house Fuore Design put Jag on the map with unveiling of the Blackjag Concept. Touted as the spiritual successor of the XF10, the now-defunct Fuore Design touted the Blackjag Concept as a mid-engine, two-seater supercar that showcased the immense performance potential Jaguar had at that time but failed to tap into. The concept was, in a lot of ways, a showcase piece Fuore Design created for the British marquee that eventually amounted to nothing more than hype unfulfilled.

Ten years later, the supercar concept is back in the headlines, albeit for an entirely different reason. That’s because the one-off concept that caused the industry to spazz when it was revealed is now up for sale.

The price for the privilege of owning it? $3.8 million.

While that number sounds exorbitant for a 10-year-old, one-off concept, the Blackjag isn’t like any other concept Jaguar has produced since then. Plus, there’s only one model like it in the world and unlike its announced 640-horsepower output back in 2004, the selling page of the Blackjag Concept touts it as having 900 horsepower under its hood. We’re really interested to know where those extra 260 ponies came from.

Do you remember the old Jaguar XJ220? Well, of course you do, after all it was the most amazing supercar ever unveiled by Jaguar! To be completely honest with you, we cannot remember many tuners that have dared to touch the XJ220, until today. This interesting decision has been made by the Bulgarian tuner Overdrive AD, which decided to give the supercar a more modern appearance.

The car has been finished in a chameleon paint featuring a combination of green, brown and gold. The tuner also installed a new Akrapovic exhaust system with carbon-fiber tail pipes and custom-made LED headlights. The most interesting addition however is a new set of LED taillights borrowed from a Ferrari 599.

For the interior, the tuner added carbon-fiber trim, leather and Alcantara upholstery, a Ground Zero sound system and a McIntosh player. And because a tuning kit can’t be completed without a set of wheels, the tuner also installed a new set of ADV.1 wheels sized 19-by-9 inches up front and 20-by-14 inches at the rear.

You could say that the writing was on the wall longer than most of us were willing to accept it.

After all, it was an ambitious project to begin with, one that would undoubtedly cost Jaguar a ton of money. Sure, we were teased that the C-X75 supercar could end up being a production car, but in the end, that was all it was: a tease. Just as late as yesterday, reports were pointing toward the C-X75 heading into the next testing phase, but it apparently got the axe before it could hit that phase.

That much was made clear by Jaguar’s global brand director Adrian Hallmark after confirming to Autocar UK what a lot of us assumed would happen: production of the C-X75 has been scrapped. Jaguar made the decision to stop production in large part because of the current economic crisis gripping the world today. With the unpredictability of the economy, it didn’t seem like the smartest of business move to push forward with a million-dollar supercar given the unpredictability of the economy.

"We feel we could make the car work, but looking at the global austerity measures in place now, it seems the wrong time to launch an £800,000 to £1 million supercar," Hallmark told Autocar.

It’s a disappointing but, ultimately, understandable decision. It’s a decision that Jaguar had to make to protect its bottom line. We can’t fault them for that. In the meantime, the five existing prototypes of the C-X75 will not go to waste. Three are expected to hit auction blocks soon while one will be sent to a future Jaguar museum. As for the last model, Jaguar’s keeping that for testing and (possibly) further development of the supercar.

Hallmark also said that the technologies developed into designing the C-X75 will be used by the company in developing future models, including the supercar’s hybrid technology, which the company said could eventually find its way on a three-cylinder engine in order to give it the power equivalent to a six-cylinder engine.

It’s a sad day for everybody looking forward to the C-X75. But you can’t fight an unpredictable global economy and Jaguar is doing the right thing axing production of the supercar. Let’s just hope that they don’t lock up the C-X75 for good and throw away the key.

The development of the Bugatti killer from Britain has entered a critical stage that decides whether Jaguar’s newly developed hybrid system and the C-X75 project as a whole deserves the green light or no.

For the past three months, Jaguar has been testing the hybrid system on a test bed and is now confident enough to install it on a rolling chassis to create a working prototype. Now the anticipation meter is back to its highest point after months of silence.

When it was first revealed at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the Jaguar C-X75 featured two turbines that looked like rockets attached. Since Jaguar was gunning for the top-spot in performance, the rockets did make sense. But, they weren’t there to launch the car down the road like a Wile E. Coyote contraption; they were actually a pair of gas turbines to power the car once charge for the four wheel-mounted electric motors had expired.

What looked promising when Jaguar bragged about was later scrapped when the Leaping Jag announced the production of the hypercar in 2011.

The gas turbine system was replaced with a hybrid system that combined a 1.6-liter boosted engine that produced more than 500 horsepower and four insanely powerful electric motors powered by a highly sophisticated liquid- and air-cooled battery pack.

So far, the tests conducted on the hybrid system have been a success in the test bed but the real nail-biting situation will arise when Jag installs the system into a chassis to make a functional prototype.

When Jaguar unveiled the C-X75 concept two years ago at the Paris Auto Show, a lot of people wondered how far the Big Cat was going to go in the development of the concept. After all, Jaguar has had a long absence in the super car market and many had doubts on whether the automaker was serious about entering a market that already had plenty of sharks in it.

The latest word to come out of Motor Trend is that Jaguar isn’t only serious about the C-X75, but serious enough to actually build 5 prototypes of the concept for the purpose of ’testing and development.’
The end-game? Build 200 models of the plug-in hybrid supercar.

Bob Joyce, Jaguar Land Rover’s group engineering director, talked with Motor Trend to discuss the company’s plans for the C-X75. "The business wants to put this car into volume production but it has to meet all its targets for positioning and price," Joyce said.

With that condition in mind, Jaguar is setting some pretty lofty goals for the supercar, including some pretty exciting performance numbers like hitting 0-60 mph in under three seconds and 0-100 mph in under six seconds. Of equal importance, considering its plug-in hybrid set-up, is that the supercar should have an EV range of 37 miles and Euro CO2 numbers of less than 100 grams per kilometer.

So if anybody still had any doubts about Jaguar’s plans for the C-X75, no less than a member of Jag’s senior management has put all those questions to rest.

The 2012 Summer Olympics are in full swing now and medals are quickly adding up. We started wondering what about the varying cars of the world? There is no auto racing in the Olympics and a love of awesome cars is one thing that is shared throughout the entire world. So why not include them?

Here at Topspeed, we felt it was time to give our 4-wheeled friends a fair chance and display the top supercars from each of the countries participating in the 2012 Summer Games – those that produce supercars. So let’s have a look at what these countries have to offer. You may be surprised to find out what countries produce some awesome supercars and what ones don’t produce any at all.

We stand to learn a lot about the world of supercars while putting this piece together, so we are certain you will learn a ton right along with us.

Click past the jump to read our entire list and check out our full infographic.

It was just last week when we brought proof that Jaguar is working on a hardcore version of the XKR-S, and now the car has been caught testing again taking some very fast laps around the famous Nurburgring race track. Could this be Jaguar’s answer to the Mercedes Black Series line from AMG?

Compared to a standard XKR-S, the new prototype features some significant changes: a deeper front spoiler with canards mounted on the sides, a different engine hood with more air outlets, and a massive rear wing. On the interior, the standard front seats will be replaced by new bucket seats and the rear seats will be non-existent.

Since there is a new hood on this bad boy, as well as a stiffer suspension, we assume that it will be toting more than the usual 550 HP.
All of these new elements, as well as the almost definite power increase, should make for a very potent track orientated supercar.

Jaguar unveiled the very cool C-X75 concept supercar at the 2010 Paris Auto Show and since then, we have heard all kinds of rumors about a possible production version. According to Inside Line, the development of the hybrid supercar is moving fast, but don’t expect to see the gas-turbine setup from the Concept to show its face in the production version.
The Jaguar C-X75 is being developed in cooperation with Cosworth and the Williams F1 team. Williams will be responsible for developing the car’s carbon-fiber tub and bodywork, as well as its hybrid driveline.
The power setup will include the four electric motors attached one to each axle and a supercharged 1.6L four-cylinder gasoline engine that develops 313 HP.
Those cool microturbines aren’t entirely gone though.
Jaguar has put them in the Jaguar and will more than likely be using it to create "an experimental car" for track use only.

Engineers did come across a few problems when modifying the concept to production form.
The Williams team had to do some extensive aerodynamic work on the body of the vehicle to make sure it could produce enough downforce to travel upside down at 120 mph.
The engineers calculated that the C-X75 needed 1.562 square meters of air intake - much more than the car’s front end had.
These aerodynamic requirements changed the design a little, says Jaguar’s global brand director Adrian Hallmark, with the C-X75 "looking more like a sculpture than a car, and more beautiful."

The production C-X75 will be limited to only 250 units, each priced at $1.15 million, and will be unveiled sometime next year.
No dates were provided for the release of the experimental track-only C-X75.

We’ve all been patiently waiting for Jaguar to prepare a production version of their impressive C-X75 Concept released in 2010, and we’re going to be waiting even longer since the production model won’t be unveiled until 2014.
That being said, the long road to production will be paved with milestones to keep us entertained, including TaTa’s official opening of the factory that will build the gas turbines for the supercar.

This factory is the Bladon Jets Engineering Center in Coventry where 15 people will work on developing the micro gas turbines. A turbine develops 95 HP and weighs 77 lbs. It has fewer moving parts than an internal combustion engine and doesn’t need oil lubrication or water cooling, which offers packaging and weight advantages.

The tricky part is that not all of the C-X75 units will combine these turbines with four independent electric motors at each wheel. The majority units will be powered by a a four-cylinder turbo engine developed by Formula One team Williams.

Launched in 1992, the XJ220 was the fastest Jaguar ever produced.
20 years later, it still maintains the title, making it an iconic vehicle to be celebrated. And as part of its 20th anniversary celebration, Jaguar has released a number of images to show it off.

The Jaguar XJ220 started off as a concept in 1988 designed by Keith Helfet and was never intended for production.
However, after an overwhelming response at the auto show, Jaguar went on to see its viability as a production model.
What they ended up with was a limited run of 350 units.
The first customer car was completed in June 1992 with a retail price of £470,000 (about $737,000 at the current exchange rates). The XJ220 remained in production until 1994.

The Jaguar XJ220 was powered by a 3.5-liter, twin turbo V6 engine that delivered a total of 550 HP and 475 lbs-ft of torque. The engine was mated to a five-speed gearbox and an AP Racing twin-plate clutch. This amount of power was enough to sprint the car from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. Also, with an impressive top speed of 213mph, the XJ220 had the highest maximum speed of any production car at that time.

Twenty years ago, Jaguar hit it big with the XJ220 supercar which set a production-car lap record at the Nurburgring race track.
Time has past, but Jaguar is still churning out some pretty fantastic models, including the Jaguar XKR-S launched this year at the Geneva Motor Show.

So what happens when you put the two supercars next to each other?
That’s what Chris Harris from British magazine, EVO, did when he had the opportunity to test the two vehicles.
The XKR-S may have been left way behind the XJ220, but who cares? We still love the XKR-S with its AJ-V8 all-aluminum powerplant with twin-vortex Roots-type supercharger delivering 550 HP and its impressive top speed of 186 mph! By comparison, the XJ220 is powered by a 3,498cc 24-valve twin turbo V6 engine with 542bhp and can hit a top speed of 220 mph.

Jaguar unveiled the C-X75 Concept car at the 2010 Paris Auto Show to show everyone that they had plenty of potential left to uncover as an automaker. And, although the concept was a huge success and served its purpose, Jaguar still needed to prove that this potential prevailed in more than just a design study. Now, under Tata’s influential arm, Jaguar is looking into building "a more accessible variation of the C-X75 concept" and will do so sometime between 2013 and 2015 with 250 units of the crazy cool production version of the C-X75.
The production model will be sport-based and will be built in conjunction with the Williams F1 team.

“We were always determined that the Jaguar C-X75 would be as striking on the road as it was in concept form,” said Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar Cars. “This will be the finest looking and most innovative Jaguar ever produced. Even in the world of supercars, we can still produce the most beautiful.”

The production C-X75 will still carry the four electric motors attached one to each axle, but the oh-so-cool jets mounted on the concept will be taken out and replaced with a supercharged 1.6L gasoline engine.
Yes, we know the jets would have been awesome to see in a production model, but the specs for the C-X75 won’t disappoint anyone.
Plus, we may still get to see the jets in a later production version since Tata owns a big stake in Bladon Jets.
For now, we’ll stick to the phenomenal elements of the future C-X75.

UPDATE 07/25/2012: At a press gathering at Jaguar’s test facility in Gaydon, England in July 2012, the company announced that the production version C-X75 would be like no other supercar. Its four-cylinder engine will feature a displacement of just 1.6 liter, but the output will go up to an impressive 500 HP at an amazing 10,000 rpm.
In order to develop such an amazing output, the engine will be equipped with direct fuel injection, supercharging, and turbocharging.

The engine will be mated to a seven-speed single clutch transmission and will either send its power to the rear wheels, or will generate power for the lithium-ion battery pack. The supercar will offer two driving modes: all-electric and hybrid. In electric mode, it will deliver an autonomy of 37 miles and in hybrid mode, it will go from 0 to 60 mph in just 3 seconds and up to a top speed of 200 mph.

Like a leaping cat joining in on the fun of hunting prey, the auto industry’s resident feline is getting ready to jump on the hybrid supercar market, and it’s got BMW in its sights.

Jaguar is preparing to challenge the standing big boy of the market, BMW AG, with a hybrid supercar and the BMW 3-Series with an entry level sedan. Ever since Tata took control of both Jaguar and Land Rover, the former has become aggressive in reinventing their company to become a little less stiff and a little more cutting edge.

"The company now revolves around the JLR unit and not the other way around," said Ashvin Chotai, Managing Director for Intelligence Automotive Asia. "The next challenge for both the brands is to keep the product pipeline going and exploring new product segments."

Tata Motors plans to invest 1.5 billion pounds, or $2.5 billion at the current rates, annually in the development of over 40 new vehicles or upgrades at Jaguar and LandRover over the next five years. From the looks of things, one of Tata Motors’ first orders of business is building a hybrid supercar for Jaguar that will roar into the industry, claws out and ready to pounce on the competition.

No one can be a fan of Formula One without knowing the name Flavio Briatore.
This multi-millionaire has managed two different Formula One racing teams, most recently Renault F1, and has made a fortune in the fashion industry with the Billionaire fashion and sportswear brand.
With a net worth of about $200 million, a man like this certainly has a few elaborate vehicles parked somewhere along his mansion, and a Jaguar XJ220 is one of them.

For whatever reason, Briatore has decided to place his Jaguar up for sale on finestautomotive.com making this the perfect opportunity for a fan to pick up one of the 350 units produced of the vehicle.
Up until 1994, the Jaguar XJ220 was the fastest production vehicle, hitting a top speed of 217mph.
It is powered by a 3,498cc 24-valve twin turbo V6 engine with 542 HP and is capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in about 3.8 seconds.

No specific price has been given for this exquisite ride, but back in 1990, it was priced at $600,000 so expect a tag somewhere in that area.

We’ve been anticipating Jaguar’s supercar for quite some time now, but it seemed as if the British manufacturer wasn’t going to give it up that easy.
The car’s been on then off a couple of times, but the unveiling of the C-X75 concept car at the Paris Auto Show may have been the next step in bringing for the British supercar.
At the show, Jaguar’s chief designer, Ian Callum, said that the company wants a supercar that will take design inspiration from the concept itself.

"Our job as designers is to destabilize things and to dream of exciting cars the company is not making now. I happen to think Jaguar needs a car like this. Everything about it is new yet it recalls one of our greatest designs of all time, the XJ13. It’s no secret that the reception we’ve had for C-X75 has been fantastic. The company won’t allow such a reaction to be lost without at least having a detailed discussion about how it can best be harnessed."

However grand that may sound, Callum confirmed that a final decision on the production has yet to be made.
If the stars align appropriately, however, the production version will adopt a regular powertrain and not the four electric motors delivering an outstanding 778 HP and 1600Nm of torque.
Any guesses on what that powertrain will be?